New Delhi. The Board of Control for Cricket in India gives central contracts to selected Indian cricketers under its retainership system. These contracts are divided into categories. Under this, eligibility is based on the player's performance, consistency and participation in all formats over a certain period. Every contracted player is given a fixed annual retainer amount depending on his category. This amount is separate from other income such as match fees and franchise income (eg, IPL contracts). Till last year, BCCI had four categories in its annual contract – A+, A, B and C. However, in the latest retainership cycle, BCCI has abolished the A+ category.
The A+ category was reserved for players who had excelled in all formats. Earlier, cricketers like Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Ravindra Jadeja and Jasprit Bumrah were part of this category. Due to the small number of players who have played consistently in all three formats, only Bumrah reportedly fulfilled this criteria. Therefore this category was removed. However, according to recent reports, now very few players are playing consistently in all three formats. It is believed that only Jasprit Bumrah was fulfilling those strict criteria. In view of this inequality, BCCI has decided to remove this category. Now the highest grade of BCCI is A.
New rules of BCCI's annual contract.
Who will get which grade? Understand the new rules
BCCI has set strict criteria for awarding the contract. According to the report of 'The Times of India', the eligibility standards are something like this.
1. Grade A (Rs 5 crore per annum)
To make a place in this grade, a player must fulfill at least two of the conditions given below.
Will have to play in at least two formats.
'Automatic selection' (ie the team's first choice) in the playing eleven.
Regular selection in the Test team and experience of at least 40 matches.
To be included in the top-15 in the ICC world rankings.
2. Grade B (Rs 3 crore annually)
Two conditions are mandatory to get a place here
Playing in two formats.
Continuous selection in the team.
To be in top-20 in world ranking.
Experience of 60 or more matches with regular selection in the Test team.
Salary Structure: Match Fee and Retainership
The amount received by players under BCCI contract can be divided into two parts.
annual retainer fee
grade A: Rs 5 crore
grade B: Rs 3 crore
Grade C: 1 crore rupees
(Note: This amount is separate from the player's IPL income and advertising earnings.)
Match Fee (Per Match)
Apart from retainership, players get separate fees for taking the field.
Test Match: 15 lakh rupees
ODI match: 6 lakh rupees
T20 matches: 3 lakh rupees
Latest Player List 2025-26: Who got which place?
This year a total of 30 players have been given central contracts, which is less than last year (34 players).
Grade A (3 players): Only Shubman Gill, Jasprit Bumrah and Ravindra Jadeja have made it to this top list. Gill's presence in this list shows his growing stature.
Grade B (11 players): The surprising thing is that Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli are now part of Grade B. Along with them, Washington Sundar, KL Rahul, Mohammed Siraj, Hardik Pandya, Rishabh Pant, Kuldeep Yadav, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Suryakumar Yadav and Shreyas Iyer are also in this category.
Grade C (16 players): This list is full of youngsters and T20 experts. Sanju Samson, Rinku Singh, Abhishek Sharma, Tilak Verma, Shivam Dubey, Arshdeep Singh, Prasidh Krishna, Akash Deep, Dhruv Jurel, Harshit Rana, Varun Chakraborty, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Sai Sudarshan, Ravi Bishnoi, Ruturaj Gaikwad and Akshar Patel are included in this category.
